Ahead of Game 7, Rangers fans called out by radio host Dave Maloney

The Rangers celebrate their Game 6 win, but will need a raucous crowd for Game 7. (Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

Dave Maloney's mouth does not come with a filter. On different occasions while listening to him make air pop "analyzing" Rangers games on ESPN-98.7, he has whined, complained, pom-pomed, but all the while explained situations so clearly you could actually see the replay on the radio.

No. Maloney, like everyone else, was looking ahead. Even before the game started, NBCSN's Keith Jones was, too. He said if the Rangers won Game 6 Sunday night, "they will win this thing when they go back to Madison Square Garden." So there is probably no reason to even watch Wednesday night's Game 7. And considering the Rangers are 6-0 in MSG Game 7's, why not take this next game for granted?

Maloney sees the dangers of complacency but took all this down a different road. One not often traveled by analysts who are paid by teams they yak for. He pointed his finger and wagged his tongue at the paying customers.

"It certainly would be something if the 'World's Most Famous Arena' could actually live up to that billing (Wednesday night)," Maloney said on the radio. "It certainly would be nice if that building were loud in the first period."

Maloney contrasted the muffled tones of the Gulag to the wall of sound Caps fans produced all night long Sunday, even when their team fell behind 4-1 and was on the ropes.

Rick Nash (r.) and the Rangers will be in for a fight in Game 7. (Kathy Willens/AP)

If anyone did not think Maloney, in his own way, was challenging Rangers fans to get off their ass and get in their seats early Wednesday night, they only had to switch over to the MSG TV postgame show where Maloney came out firing the same message.

"I would love for this city (New York) to step up for Game 7," Maloney said. "This (Washington) building was electric (tonight). We have a chance here. A game seven. Two teams who have played hard.… I hope the building (MSG) is as electric as it was here tonight. It was fabulous!"

This was incredible. It wouldn't seem necessary for anyone in the media to encourage fans to get loud for a GAME 7.

For someone who has been around as long as Maloney to call out Rangers fans, who have always been portrayed as vocal and loyal through thick and thin, is significant. Fans can't skate. They can't score. They can't stop a shot. Still, a hockey man like Maloney is saying they are needed, needed badly, to fuel emotions.

He is not alone in his assessment. Monday morning on WFAN, the man who invented the sport of ice hockey, Norman Julius Esiason, said he "hoped the Rangers faithful show up" Wednesday. He then said something about fans who sit downstairs, a more corporate crowd, getting to their seats late because they are hanging in some club inside the Gulag.

Could it also be the more vocal loyalists, no matter where they sit, have been priced out of the arena, giving way to a more reserved brand of fans? If that's true, gee we wonder who exactly jacked up those ticket prices? Whatever, that situation will never be reversed.

And as Maloney said, now it's all about Wednesday night and making the WMFA "live up to that billing." Here's an idea: Maybe James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan can call on his new Liberty prez, Isiah Thomas, to reprise (sort of) his famous 2004 "Welcome to the Playoffs" greeting, saying: "Welcome to Game 7."

Those inspiring words, and the mere presence of Zeke, should get the crowd revved up, right?

Oh, you're not buying that.

Then how about this: Bring back John Amirante, the crooner MSG unceremoniously booted, to sing our national anthem one more time. The fans love this man. Seeing him emerge from the tunnel, walk on to the carpet, then perform his rendition of the anthem would raise the roof.

But what do we know?

Maloney has been around big games as a player and broadcaster. If the crowd was a mere prop, there would be nothing to say. And nothing to risk either.

No doubt there are some suits in the "organization" who did not like hearing Maloney say that the crowd in the Verizon Center can produce more sustained noise and passion than Rangers fans in the overly hyped, transformed WMFA. Some may even take it as an insult to this loyal fan base. Tough. You can't blame someone speaking from the heart. Someone like Dave Maloney. A guy who values noise.